Tower Heist: Getting Revenge on Bernie Madoff

Here's a trailer for Tower Heist, the star-studded Brett Ratner (shudder) comedy about a bunch of apartment building employees who decide to rob the place's swindling, Bernie Madoff-esque richest tenant. Timely!

Really, it is timely! It's a pertinent story of class rage, a crime we can root for because it's being done to an even bigger criminal. See, the building employees' pensions were invested with the crook, played by Alan Alda, so they're broke. And they figure out he's got $20 million hidden somewhere in his palatial penthouse, so a scheme is born.

And look at that cast! Ben Stiller, Matthew Broderick, Eddie Murphy, Téa Leoni. It's a veritable who's-who of actors who were big in the '80s and '90s. (Well, to be fair, Stiller really was biggest in the early '00s.) Everyone on that list has managed to stay pretty up-to-date, except for maybe Eddie Murphy who, in this preview at least, is relying on his same old motormouth shtick. He has a nice small joke with Gabourey Sidibe (playing a Caribbean-ish maid), but other than that, it's all staccato all the time. Which is too bad. I want to see more Dreamgirls Eddie Murphy and less Metro Eddie Murphy.

ANYWAY, this looks more serious than I thought it would — I mean, these people are really broke and this really did happen to real people, really — and I think that's a good thing. Obviously the Brett Ratner factor is a groaner, but I am slightly curious to see this. If only because I've had a strange soft spot in my heart for Téa Leoni ever since her glorious turn as the doomed Jenny Lerner. You just had to get to the mountains, Jenny. That's all. Oh well.